Sketto Romance
by risingdaydreamer
Summary: Now that Himeko has realized her feelings for Bossun, what steps will she need to take for him to realize his own feelings? Luckily, they have Switch to help them. HimekoxBossun
1. Thickheadedness

**Author's Note:** This will be set a few days after chapter 232! If you're a HimekoxBossun fan, you should check it out! The fact that there's almost no fic for this very adorable couple gave me the drive to write this. This will probably be 4-5 chapters long. And please excuse the title. lol

**Disclaimer: Sket Dance and the characters here all belong to Shinohara Kenta.**

**-Sketto Romance-**

**Chapter 1 – Thickheaded**

Bossun suspiciously narrowed down his eyes towards the only girl in their club room.

It was a day after their trip to Osaka and it was supposedly one of their normal afternoons where in they were left to do nothing productive. Switch was playing a new dating sim game that came out yesterday (as he had boastfully announced to them that he got the limited edition one) while Himeko arranged the volumes of manga that the two boys had arbitrarily brought on their clubroom out of nothing else to do. It was supposedly normal - as Bossun was folding more paper cranes, like always - but there was one thing off that Bossun was quite sure that there had been something pretty special that occurred recently and whatever that something was, he was obviously being uninformed about-

CRASH!

Bossun's line of thought was cut by the sound of the glass breaking. As he averted his gaze towards his left, he realized that on his attempt to get another origami paper, he had knocked off his cup from the table and its tea was now spilling over the floor. Oh boy… Himeko had just finished waxing the floor a few moments ago before she started with arranging their manga. And wait, was that cup one of Himeko's favourite…?

There was silence in the room as the two other members of the club stopped what they were doing to look over at their leader. Bossun gulped as he nervously turned his head towards the blonde. Man, his bruises from the fight in Osaka weren't even completely gone yet. Was he going to take another beating from their strong member?

Himeko started walking towards his direction and Bossun begun to wave his arms in defense. The fact the Switch's digital voice was chanting 'He broke the cup, he broke the cup' didn't make Bossun felt less nervous.

"I-i-it was an accident! I didn't mean-"

"It's okay." She kneeled over the mess and picked the broken bits of cups, placing them on the piece of cloth she was holding. Bossun blinked as the horrifying shouts and painful blows he was expecting never came. Instead, Himeko simply glanced towards him -was that a twinkle in her eyes just now?- and asked him, "you didn't hurt yourself, did you, Bossun?"

There was another silence as Switch's teasing suddenly stopped.

Surprised at her question, Bossun could only manage to shake his head. He ruined the cup, her favourite one at that, and spilled tea on the floor she had just cleaned, and all she was asking him was, was, was if he's alright?

A smile crossed Himeko's lips at Bossun's response and this only made him even more bewildered. His very shocked expression immediately removed the smile on Himeko's face though. "Bossun, is there something wrong?"

He pointed an accusatory finger at Himeko, his mouth opening and closing like a fish before he stammered. "Y-you! What's with that overly positive attitude since this morning! You've been either smiling or humming happily all throughout the day! What's this?" Bossun couldn't help but notice the blush that crept on Himeko's cheeks and this only made him feel more agitated. "Something good happened, wasn't there? Something really, really, REALLY good that it made you SOOO happy you cannot be bothered to scold me for the mess I've been doing?"

To Bossun's dismay, his outrage only caused Himeko to giggle brightly, leaving him to gape more widely. She continued to clean up the mess with smile on her face while Bossun's mouth hung open. Not knowing what to say to Himeko, Bossun turned to the other male in the room. " Switch! Himeko's gone mad!"

'Ohohoho Bossun. That's what you called the "spring of youth."' Switch's voice responded haughtily. If Bossun wasn't busy shooting half confused, half bewildered look at Switch, he would have seen how Himeko's face reddened brightly at Switch's comment. The older lad decided to continue teasing Bossun. 'Ahhhh~ it's so good to be young.'

"What? What?" Their leader started looking back and forth from Himeko - who strategically faced the trash can so Bossun couldn't see her blushing face- and Switch. "Spring of youth? Does that mean-?"

Himeko suddenly picked up their trash bin and screamed "Oh look! Our trash is over flowing! I'll just go out and get rid of them all at once!"

Not listening to Bossun's banters of "It's not even half full!" and "You've just threw away the trash half an hour ago!" Himeko left the clubroom in a dash. Gaping at the door that the blonde left opened, Bossun didn't realize that he had already stood up from his sitting spot, his paper cranes forgotten. He snapped his head towards Switch's direction. "It's Katou isn't it?" Switch's eyes gleamed in amusement as Bossun frantically paced the room back and forth. "She and that ninja finally got together, didn't they? A-a-and she thinks," Bossun's stopped prancing and his face begun to crumple, "I'm just a completely childish, irrelevant oaf to even tell that their relationship had just levelled up!"

'As far as my resources go,' Switch attempted to cheer up Bossun, 'both Himeko and Kato Kirin are still single as of the moment. ^^'

This seemed to have calmed down Bossun enough for him to sit down again but there was still the disbelieving look on his face. "So they've just both found out that they have mutual feelings for each other and Kato is just waiting for the right moment to profess his undying love. Okay, I'll just sit back here and continue being a very unimportant person who doesn't mean a single thing to anyone in the world. Yeah, I'm just plain useless Bossun who can only fold papers…"

Switch silently wondered how long it would take for Bossun to realize what was in front of him. Himeko seemed to have already find out her own feelings for their leader during their trip to Osaka, but Switch was convinced it'd take Bossun an eternity to level up his understanding in terms of romance. But of course, Switch wouldn't just stand back and not help his two friends on this important stage of lfe. 'Bossun, Himeko is always amazed at how you do those origami!'

Bossun perked up a bit at this comment but it was far from enough to remove the idea on his head that Himeko liked Kato and vice versa. "Oh sure she'd like these papers much more than his kunai!" Bossun responded sarcastically. "I can't beat anyone with paper unless I tried becoming Saicho of Team Kuu!"

'Is that jealousy I'm hearing Bossun?' Switch's tone changed to a teasing one. 'Oh my! Our Bossun is jealous of our Himeko liking another guy! Ohohoho!'

"Je- " He gaped. "Why should I be? Of all things, je-GAH!" Bossun crumpled the paper and threw it on annoyance. He stood up in annoyance and Switch was ratheramused by the tint of red that tainted the other lad's face. "I'm going home!" With that, he grabbed his bag and made way to open the door. He wasn't able to step out of the room though as there in front of him stood Himeko who was now looking up at him—was she blushing? — with curious eyes. Her expression went disappointed though when she spotted his bag with him.

"Oh Bossun, you're going home now?"

She looked back up at him and Bossun's expression crumpled in confusion. There was that expression again! Since early this morning, there had been this very different look that mixed on Himeko's eyes whenever she looked at him. And he couldn't decipher what it was! Bossun had been with Himeko for a long time now and he had already seen all of Himeko's expressions. Angry, happy, annoyed, embarrassed, sad; he'd seen them all! So why was it that this expression— this one similar to that look she gave him after she, ehem, hugged him at Osaka — was something he never knew she had? Did something happen? Did something change? Was it…

Oh. Yeah. Spring of youth.

With the conclusion in mind, Bossun averted his gaze from Himeko and muttered a noncommittal 'See ya' towards Switch's direction before heading out.

Still holding the trash bin, Himeko just made way for him and watched him walk away for a while as if debating whether she'd follow him or not.

'Wasn't there something you wanted to tell him?' Switch's voice piped in and Himeko blushed at the question.

"Y-yes." Himeko stared on the ground, half of her wanted to run to Bossun, half wanted to bury herself on the ground. "But I'm not sure if it's the right time…"

'Hmmmm. But it seems that Bossun has come up with an interesting conclusion.'

Himeko's head snapped towards Swtich. "Eh? What conclusion?" With an imagination like Bossun's, who knew what kind of things he thought! Did he already know? But that Bossun was so thick headed there was no way he'd find out!

'She and that ninja finally got together, didn't they?' It was Bossun's recorded voice that came from Switch's laptop and Himeko's already red face turned even much brighter. "That buffoon-" She turned around again and followed Bossun's direction on a quick speed, completely forgetting that she was still holding the trash bin.

Switch's eyes sparkled towards the door before he averted his attention back to his game. Ahh, it's sure nice to be young.

It didn't take long before Bossun's back was visible again to Himeko. He hadn't even reached the school gates by the time she exited the building. But as she neared him, lots of thoughts bombarded her mind.

What was she going to tell him? Was she really going to confess now? Now? What if he was on his way to confess to someone else? What if he already knew? Did Saaya feel this nervous when she confessed with Bossun? How did Switch find out? Oh but that's Switch! He'd know everything! Did he know how Bossun felt for her? Should she have asked him first? But that's wrong! Remi-sensei told her she looked blooming today! Captain asked her why she was smiling happily! Bossun was just a step away! He was turning around with a very disgruntled look!

Bossun let out a shriek when she suddenly grabbed him on both arms. Himeko didn't let this bewildered reaction fazed her determination- it took a life-changing event for her to realize her own feelings and just a shriek from him won't destroy her newly found courage- and before she could stop herself, she announced. "NAKATANI-SAN SAID THAT THERE'S THIS WONDERFUL CAFÉ THAT OPENED NEAR THE STATION. WE SHOULD GO ON A DATE THERE, BOSSUN!"

There was silence between them and Himeko finally realized that there were still actually other students who were on their way home outside the school gates. By the way they stopped- some giggled, some whistled- Himeko was pretty sure they all heard what she had just told Bossun. She didn't have time to be bothered by all this though since she was currently giving all her attention at Bossun… who was just staring at her with a surprised look.

Oh heavens. She was pretty sure his usually brilliant mind was concocting very far-fetched ideas since this was a matter of something romance-inclined. If this had happened a few days ago, she would have taken back whatever she said and tried patching it up with stupid excuses. He was looking at her as if she said a very foreign word.

After what seemed like an eternity to Himeko, Bossun finally opened his mouth.

"Date?"

Himeko nodded resolutely. This only resulted to Bossun's eyebrows arching in confusion. And was that annoyance in his expression?

"Shouldn't you be asking someone else?" He muttered suspiciously as he narrowed his eyes at her. "Someone like… a certain ninja?"

Himeko blushed out of annoyance at how Bossun was still pushing Kato on this discussion when she already asked straight for her to go on a date. This thick-headedness somehow gave Himeko more resolution. "No! Not Kato! It shouldn't be anyone but you, Bossun! Come on, let's go! Nakatani-san said it closes early!"

If Himeko bothered to look at Bossun's face as she pulled him along, she would have seen the slight tinge of pink on Bossun's face. He didn't understand why his breath hitched when she sprouted that question.

Did she really want to go on a date with him?

But why would Himeko asked him to go out, on a date, nonetheless? Did she and Kato had a fight so she needed his help to make that ninja jealous? Yeah. That's probably it. Himeko was just too embarrassed to explain the rest of the situation so the only thing she managed to say was 'Go on a date.' And it shouldn't be anyone but him because he's the only person around who'd volunteer helping. She'd probably had asked Switch before she came running after him. Switch probably had some other plans whereas he, useless Bossun, didn't have plans with anyone else…

Despite knowing that Himeko was just asking him for the sake of making Kato jealous, Bossun wondered why he never actually tried and pull off from Himeko's grasp when her hold wasn't even that tight.

He could have said no, really.

**-to be continued—**

Author's Note: Reviews will be appreciated~ It was a bit hard trying to get Himeko and Bossun's characters as I think these two have tendencies to have different reaction on different circumstances… Though I think Himeko would be more resolute on her feelings towards Bossun now that she knows of her own feelings. I assume that it might take a while for Bossun to realize his own feelings though. Oh and Saicho of Team Kuu is from Flame of Recca and copyrighted to Nobuyuki Anzai.

**-Sketto Romance—**

"Oi, Himeko."

"NO!" She hastily said, more to herself than to Bossun, without even looking back at him. "I'm not backing out!"

"That's not it." Noting the nervousness on Himeko's voice now but not commenting on it, Bossun shifted his eyes towards the thing that Himeko's holding. "You still have that trash bin."

This finally made Himeko stopped and she looked at what her other hand was holding as if she never knew how it got there. "Oh bother! We'll just take it to the café!"


	2. Desire

**Author's Note:** Saw the raws of chapter 233 and seems like Himeko and Bossun's relationship stays the same for now. A bit sad that we don't see any progress on their relationship though I'm also a bit proud of Himeko that she's able to maintain her good friendship with Bossun despite discovering her feelings. ouo

**Disclaimer: Sket Dance and the characters here all belong to Shinohara Kenta.**

**-Sketto Romance-**

**Chapter 2 – Desire**

The café turned out to be a Hansel and Gretel themed one. It looked like a pretty normal shop outside, with its brown tainted glasses hiding the magnificent decorations inside it. A curvy yet simple red and pink halogen sign of Sweet Deli marked the café just above its French styled doors. Both Himeko and Bossun shrugged nonchalantly at the shop's supposedly normalcy, but - being the type of teens who were quite easily amazed - both their eyes widened in awe at the interior design of the shop. Each table was designed differently. Some were layers of cookies, others slices of cakes, and the rest were cupcakes inspired. The room was also divided into four different 'flavors,' making the floor and ceiling colors vary depending on the location. East part was caramel flavoured, west was vanilla flavoured, north was strawberry and south - they didn't even bother stopping themselves from drooling—chocolate flavoured.

"AH! I want to seat on the chocolate area but I might die of drooling if we sat there!" Still holding the trash bin on one hand, Himeko stared at the Kisses shaped bean chairs and the table beside it that was designed like a slice of triple layered chocolate cake. It didn't help that the floor looked like a flood of chocolate syrup.

"This is too conspicuous, Himeko! It almost looks as if there's going to be a witch to imprison us and save us for dinner later after these eye candies trick us into buying everything off the menu!" Bossun spat out as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Himeko looked almost convince.

"Or maybe it will be a white rabbit that will take us to the world of the Red Queen? Maybe they'll have Pelocans growing on trees!" Himeko's eyes went dreamily at the thought of all the flavors of her most beloved Pelocans just hanging on trees, ready to be pluck. She was too busy daydreaming to hear Bossun comment that only people with weird tastes like her would like that. Bossun was about to interject her thoughts when a girly cough interrupted them. Both Bossun and Himeko turned to look at the waitress who they didn't notice to be standing there. She looked like Goldilocks what with her outfit of choice, except that she was holding a tray.

"Table for two?" She smiled brightly at them and the pair only nodded. They somehow started to think that three bears would soon jump in somewhere around. Goldilocks nodded and lead them to one of the many vacant tables over at Strawberry area before leaving them to attend on some other customers.

Himeko sat at the soft marshmallow shaped chair placed beside the table which they tried not to look at because it looked too delicious for furniture. It didn't help that a very sweet aroma was lingering on the café.

"This is too soft not to be real marshmallow, Bossun!" She exclaimed as she tested its softness and bounced repeatedly on it. "It almost looks like we can eat it! AHHH! Is this some kind of new torture! Seeing everything very delicious but all of them is inedible!" Himeko held her head in attempt to maintain her sanity.

"Why is your seat very soft like that while mine is hard candy!" Bossun pointed out rather enviously. "Ohhhhh! I'm sure you're going to be the one they'll feed a lot so you'll get fat enough for dinner!" He started laughing as if he had won over something, not noticing Himeko's flushed face at his 'fat' comment. She was about to retort and beat him to death at his apparent lack of tact, but Himeko figured that this was just Bossun being the usual childish and tactless boy that he was.

And she loved him for that.

Though she was sure she'd gonna beat him if he made another comment about weight, figure and what not.

Instead of giving him a piece of her mind, Himeko decided to change topic and reach for the menu that was shaped and designed like thin slices of strawberry. "So what should we order? Aaaahhh the front cover looks really cute!"

Bossun also reached for a copy of menu and instead of goggling over the cover, he browsed the content to see what they could actually eat here. His eyes bulged in surprise.

"All these designs are really amazing!" Himeko beamed again in amazement as she held the menu and look around the whole café one more time. She had just noticed that aside from them, there was only an old gentleman and a pair of snobby looking girls on the shop. "It's such a wonder why they don't get many customers."

"H-Himeko…" Bossun stammered quietly but Himeko just continued to marvel at the adorable decors.

"Even the ceiling has very intricate designs! They should make those brown glass clear instead so they can attract more people!"

"H-Himeko…"

"Let's go again with Switch and Captain next time! I'm sure they'll gonna love it here."

"Himeko!" Bossun had opted on lightly hitting her with the menu to get her attention and Himeko was about to hit him back hard, but all sense seemed to have escaped her when she snapped her head towards Bossun's direction, only to find out that he was leaning over the table while using the menu to hide their faces.

That and the fact that his head was only a good distance away from her stopped any gear on Himeko's head. She could see Bossun's face quite clearly and noticed how his eyelashes were almost long –although clearly not as long as his twin's was– His bangs was almost over his eyes again but he probably hadn't noticed yet. He was whispering loudly something about prices being outrageous and that he didn't have enough money to even buy a cookie, but Himeko failed to listen to any of it.

It was only when Bossun stopped saying anything that Himeko realized that he was staring at Bossun's lips.

"KYAAAAAAAA-!"

BAM!

Himeko suddenly stood up, the trash bin she used to hit Bossun still on her hand, and madly dashed towards the exit as fast as she could, leaving Bossun who had toppled over his seat (remember it was designed after a hard candy) after Himeko's trash bin oh so graciously met his face.

How she badly wanted to hide her head inside the trash bin after what happened! She was quite sure that her face was the same color as that red halogen used on the Sweet Deli name.

She couldn't believe it! She just didn't have that sudden desire to- to- she remembered his lips.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

She ran faster and in a more frantic manner but she wasn't on the mood to care about how people might think she was insane. The insane thing was desiring doing… _that. _With Bossun.

That.

With Bossun.

Himeko ran faster, as if doing so would enable her to escape the thought.

That was insane!

Himeko could hear loud thumps from her chest and although she hoped that it was caused by her absurd running, she was pretty sure that Bossun was the reason for each faster beat.

Sure, she had already admitted to herself that she saw Bossun in a much special manner and that her feelings for him were way beyond friendship. But this was the very first time that the thought of doing _that_ with Bossun had ever entered her mind.

She was sure she could never face Bossun again.

-xx—

The following day, Switch looked over at Bossun who was playing with his old gashapon figures as they waited for their class to start. Switch, of course, did not let yesterday's event escape from his eyes so he had discreetly followed the two on their so-called date. He wanted to continue playing his new game, but Bossun and Himeko's relationship proved to be far more appealing than any of the otome games he had.

It was also quite amusing to see how calmly Bossun was coping up with Himeko's hit-and-run tactic yesterday. In as much casual tone as he could manage, Switch asked, 'So Bossun! Kekekeke What did YOU do after school yesterday? Kekekeke'

Bossun looked up from his figures and gave Switch a befuddled expression, but he answered nonetheless. "Hmmmm. Nothing much." He shrugged and went back on moving his figures as if they were battling with each other.

'Ohhhhhhhh reallllyyyyyy?' Switch questioned in a mischievous tone as he took out a small photo paper. 'So _this_ is nothing much? Hm? HM?'

Quite curious, Bossun took the photo and looked at it. It was a picture of him and Himeko when he was trying to whisper to her about the absurd prices of the food there. Their faces weren't seen though because he was covering them with the menu. It wasn't really anything much except that Himeko had arbitrarily beat him yet again. But what was new with that anyway? He stared at the picture for a moment before gaping at Switch. "You were at the shop too?"

Now, this wasn't the response Switch wanted, but it was expected of Bossun to be incredulously thick. 'One of the waitresses there is a friend from a forum and she took a picture of this because she thought it was brave of a high school boy to do _that_ on their café.'

Bossun gasped and started waving his arms in defence. "I wasn't trying to ruin their image! Their prices were just really, really expensive for a high school student like me! Their shop was really great, but it's probably meant for richer students!"

'….' Switch just stared. Again, this wasn't the response Switch was waiting to hear, but then again, he should have known Bossun wouldn't see the picture the way it might have appeared to others. He took the photo from Bossun and held it so that the photo was eye-level to Bossun. '_That _doesn't mean you insulting their ridiculously high prices, Bossun. If you look more carefully-'

"AHHHHHHH!" Himeko had chosen this moment to enter the classroom and immediately saw the photo. On that photo, she and Bossun appeared like they were doing something—something that Himeko had the desire to do yesterday (and the desire hadn't really faded away but at least it decreased low enough for her to be on the same room as Bossun)—behind that menu. Why did Bossun have to lean over and cover their faces behind the menu? She quickly grabbed it from Switch's hand and begun exclaiming, "It wasn't like that! NOT LIKE _THAT_! NOTHING LIKE THAT AT ALL!"

Their other classmates were already used at the Sket Dan's antics so they simply looked once at Himeko before returning their attention to their own business.

"Chill, Himeko, even Switch agreed that the prices were ridiculous! We weren't doing anything bad." Bossun grinned at her and it took everything of Himeko not to break and run back home. Her face turned bright red though at that grin and so, she promptly looked away as Bossun started to grimace. "What were you thinking leaving me by myself yesterday? If your stomach was on its bad day, you could have told me before going away."

Himeko had the urge to snap and give Bossun another beating. Here she was, panicking at the unreasonable desires she was having, while Bossun was showing how delicate he was, which was totally not delicate at all. She would have beaten him if she didn't have the most difficult time actually looking at him without blushing. Heck, just standing on the same room as him was already more than enough to heat her face.

"Hm? Haaa… Are you still feeling unwell today? Your face looks really red-" He had stood up to reach a hand on Himeko's face to check if her temperature as abnormal, but he had barely neared Himeko when she let out an 'eeeep' before crying out a loud and quick, "Bathroom!" And then she was out of the room.

Bossun and Switch stared at the door for a while before Bossun said, "did the overly sweet design of the shop upset her stomach?"

Switch averted his eyes towards the other boy's direction. He wondered if even Bossun's concentration goggles would help him on realizing what all of these meant. 'I think it's the denseness that disrupts both her digestive and nervous system. The latter is sure to break down soon.' Switch nodded to himself and before Bossun could ask more, Chu-san entered the classroom (rather very late) and started homeroom lazily.

It wasn't until midway's Chu-san 's talk about their long exams tomorrow, which he had forgotten to announce weeks ago, when Himeko returned. Chu-san was supposed to give her a punishment but he was too lazy to think of any so he just made Himeko sat back on her seat. Bossun noticed that Himeko's face was still red and she was looking resolutely on the ground.

Bossun frowned.

He had never seen Himeko looking as constipated as before.

-xx—

Himeko stared at the pill, which looked like an ordinary candy, and bottle of cola that Bossun placed on her desk.

Chu-san had given the rest of their homeroom time for his students to review for the exams the following day. Or so he said, but everyone knew he was just not feeling in the mood to give them any proper lecture, as always. Bossun had followed him out and when he returned, he had this pill and cola with him.

Himeko tried to look at Bossun, only to avert her gaze in an instant. Man, it was like she was in love with Bossun or something!

Oh wait, she was.

That didn't really stopped her from being able to look at him eye-to-eye before, but suddenly desiring _that_ had made confronting Bossun a lot more difficult. What if she suddenly threw herself onto him and do _that_? What if Bossun never spoke to her after she does something like _that_? Oh crab miso, liver, century egg, blue cheese! Even the Pelocans weren't looking that appealing after she thought of having _that _with Bossun- Himeko mentally banged her head on the table just to stop herself from thinking that.

"Come on, don't glare at that! I asked Chu-san for some medicine to heal constipation. He said it'd be more effective with cola." Bossun explained the presence of the pill and cola on her table. Himeko couldn't believe he asked Chu-san among all people for a medicine. Heck, she couldn't believe why he was thinking she was having some kind of digestive problem when all in all she's worrying about her, uhm, desires.

"The nurse was nowhere to be found so only Chu-san was left to be asked for medicine." Bossun answered as if he read her mind. She briefly wondered if he'd be able to read the latter thought as well. "He said he was rather confident with that pill because he also tend to have constipation problems whenever he mistook other pills as candy. Can you believe that? He mistakes his own pills as candies!"

_She_ couldn't believe how Bossun still hadn't found out that she had feelings for him when here she was, blushing like crazy while he, facing her, casually sat on the chair in front of her desk. She had been trying her best to look at him, but even a mere glimpse of his face was enough to break the courage she mustered and send her eyes looking at everything else except him. She could have run away, again, but she really wanted to be as normal as she could be in front of him. After all, one of the things she loved the most was their friendship. She didn't want their friendship to be affected by her selfish feelings. Maybe she should be thankful that Bossun still hadn't figure out her feelings.

Silly as his theory about constipation was, he was still thoughtful enough to get some medicine for her (albeit the source of the medicine was a bit shady). That was Bossun for you. He'd always be there to help.

"You should drink that now, so you won't have problems later. Chu-san said that the effect is instant!" Bossun said and Himeko could hear the mild awe in his voice. Having calmed her feelings a bit, Himeko managed to look at Bossun and give him a smile of appreciation before taking the pill.

It was a good think that Himeko took a sip at the cola after that...

...because Bossun didn't know how she would have reacted if she saw _him_ blushing because of one smile.

**-to be continued—**

Author's Note: I was actually surprised at the sudden reviews and faves today, so I figured someone might have linked it to tumblr. True enough, Narukohina from tumblr posted it. ouo Thank you for posting it! And, I'm not too sure if I made Bossun too daft or Himeko too moody, but I enjoyed writing this. Reviews will be appreciated~

**-Sketto Romance—**

When Himeko plopped down the bottle of cola on her table, she stared at Bossun for a long time.

Bossun tried to keep himself from getting red, but the longer Himeko looked, the more uncomfortable it became. Himeko was now actually gaping at him as if she had started seeing him on a different light. He was now beginning to worry about the pill she had just taken.

"Himeko-?" He asked cautiously but then stopped when Himeko suddenly clasps both his hands onto hers and asked dreamily but resolutely, "Fujisaki Yusuke-kun, won't you marry me?"

Switch, who had been sitting silently on the chair beside Bossun, had taken full record of what happened and what had been said.


	3. Cause and Effect

Author's Note: Ahahaha This had been ready way back September and I kind of got dishearted when the anime ended. orz I hope they make a new season. Anyway, sorry for the long wait! Thank you for the lovely reviews ;u; Hope you enjoy this one~

**-Sketto Romance-**

**Chapter 3 – Cause and Effect **

"Chuu-san!"

Bossun's voice echoed in the hallway leading towards the Science Laboratory and it wasn't a second after that when he reached the doorway of the said room. With a loud BAM, Bossun opened the door and exclaimed, "THAT PILL WASN'T FOR CONSTIPATION! YOU SAID IT WAS FOR CONSTIPATION! Well, she doesn't look constipated anymore, BUT THAT PILL SURE ISN'T A CURE FOR CONSTIPATION!"

Chuu-san merely averted his gaze from the two test tubes (one which contained a very suspicious black colored liquid, and another an oozing red) that he was holding before answering with, "Oh, I noticed that I gave you the wrong pill but you were gone already. I was... going to tell you when I go back to the classroom after lunch."

"You noticed?! YOU NOTICED?! CHUU-SAN, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!"

Bossun exclaimed frantically with his rather, uh, disoriented face. Not only was Bossun's face close to tearing up due to aggravation, it was also blue and swollen due to Himeko slamming her hand on his left cheek and then sending her knuckles on his right. As if the physical pain wasn't enough, he was also called an idiot by Himeko (he was also called "a really, really stupid red caterpillar who's only skills were concentrating, and folding papers," but he was already trying to forget that part). And as if being assaulted physically and verbally still weren't enough, Himeko actually cried.

All because he had laughed and said "who'd want to marry an amazon li—." He wasn't even able to finish that sentence before he met his punishment from Himeko's hands. Literally. Bossun still was not sure what happened after that, because the next thing that he knew, he was running after Himeko who had stood up and ran out of the classroom (though he somewhat heard some of their classmates saying something like, "Bossun's a total idiot," and "Bossun's totally not delicate at all."). The next, next thing he knew after trying to chase her was that Himeko's heel speeded towards his face for a flying kick and that he was left lying on the hallway while the blonde teen rushed away after telling him he was more idiot than an idiot.

And all because he had ran after her while asking, "Did the pill worsen your constipation so much you're dashing like mad to the comfort room?" Why, that Himeko was the one who's more idiot than an idiot! Why should she kick someone who's asking out of concern? Didn't she know the terrible effects of constipation? Couldn't she see he was worried too? Bossun had decided that this was all because of the wrong pill that Chuu-san gave so instead of continuing on chasing Himeko, Bossun headed here on the Science Laboratory, where Chuu-san was still acting without any care in the world despite his obvious mistake.

Feeling the sting from Himeko's kick, Bossun dashed to Chuu-san's table and cried, "Why did you have to mistaken the love pill as a medicine for constipation?! And you upgraded it to just one pile?! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO UPGRADE IT WHEN YOU ALREADY HAVE REMI-NEE-SAN?! DO YOU HAVE THE NEED TO BE MORE LOVEY-DOVEY?! NO ONE WANTS TO SEE PDA IN THIS SCHOOL!"

Despite Bossun's hysterics, Chuu-san simply disregarded all the things Bossun said and just lazily raised an eyebrow, "I upgraded the Fallinlove pill?"

"Upgraded or not, why did you have to give me the Faillinlove pill instead of a simple pill that cures constipation? They said love hurts, but did it have to be literally in the form of punches and kick?" Bossun almost wanted to pull out his hair, but decided that he needed to calm down. Still looking very stressed from aggravation and physical pain, Bossun tried to calm down and asked, "Chuu-san, can you please just give the antidote to that Fallinlove pill?" He silently prayed that Chuu-san actually have an antidote for it.

"I gave you the Fallinlove pill?" Chuu-san actually had the nerve to chuckle as he continued on mixing his weird liquids. "How can I give you that pill if it went sold out last Valentine."

"You actually sold that stuff?!" Bossun gasped in disbelief and shock. "Is it even legal to sell things like that?! ...Now, I'm curious how all those people who bought the 3-pilled Fallinlove set managed to make it work."

"Do you really want to know?" Chuu-san watched his chemicals ooze a little, not really paying interest to Bossun.

"Yes! Wait, no! That's not what I want to ask!" Bossun started to wail again. "If it's not an upgraded Fallinlove pill, then what weird concoction will cause Himeko to ask me to ma—ma—marr-," this was ridiculous, he was even having a hard time saying the word, "wed me?" Really.

"Ahhhh." Chuu-san nodded as the liquid on the tube started to turn transparent; Bossun wanted to ask how a mixture of black and red can turn transparent, but he decided not to bother; this was Chuu-san after all. "Himeko asking you to marry her, that's not because of the Fallinlove pill. I gave you a candy that looks like a pill but it's actually just a candy, not a medicine pill for constipation that looks like a candy."

Bossun was speechless.

Chuu-san was saying that what he gave him was actually a candy pill (a candy that looked like a pill that looked like a candy but is actually just a candy) but Bossun didn't seem to hear.

Himeko's, ehem, proposal was not because of a love pill? Why else would Himeko ask him something like that if a weird pill didn't cause it?

For some weird reason, a chibi Bossun in Roman's drawing style popped on his mind and it started to snicker naughtily.

'Gegegege Silly, silly prince!" The Roman-styled-chibi Bossun continued to snicker while covering his mouth with his little hands. "Of course, it's nothing else but love! A person only proposes to someone they really love! With sparkles in her eyes, Himeko has finally realized that you're origami skills are far better than that ninja's fighting skills! Ninjas are soooo outdated, but your origami skills are really outdated, too, and far more boring, prince! But don't worry, because love is blind, the origami skills become much cooler even though in reality, ninjas are really much, much cooler!'

Another chibi Bossun in Switch's drawing style popped and it tried to kick the Roman-styled one, but missed. Still, the Roman-styled chibi Bossun fell down as if the miss-kick actually hurt it. The Switch-styled-chibi Bossun harrumphed.

"You only think that because you're very naive! Don't you know that there are many people out there who want to marry others because of money? Love! Ha! What a crazy thought! It's all because of money, money!" Roman-sytled-chibi Bossun looked up at it with fear in its eyes, why, the Switch-styled-chibi Bossun wasn't even blinking while saying these dreadful things. "When you're already married, there won't be any more "love." Everything will be mere pretences and even if you eat dinner together, the atmosphere will just be cold and you'll be thinking why you even married! You'll start thinking, 'ah, maybe I'll just have dinner with my secretary tomorrow than with this old hag,' but then you'll remember that your secretary is a guy like you because your wife fired that beautiful one when you married! Your life will be endangered too because your wife will be after your insurance! Of course she'll make it look like it's an accident and pretend to grieve on your grave! But when you're gone, she'll immediately marry that guy secretary!"

This made the Roman-styled-chibi Bossun cry and spout, "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!" but the Switch-styled-chibi Bossun only crossed its arms. It was then that another chibi Bossun in Bossun's drawing style appeared.

"What are you two saying?!" It pointed at Roman-styled-chibi Bossun. "Is this some kind of shoujo manga?! Why would Himeko see my origiami skills with sparkling eyes? And you even think Katou is actually, really, way cooler than me!" Then it pointed to Switch-styled-chibi Bossun. "And you! Is this some kind of TV drama? Why will there be a love triangle with a guy secretary?! Even a murder attempt because of an insurance?!" It wailed exasperatedly. "Why are your thoughts so cliché?"

Roman-styled-chibi Bossun pouted. "If it's not because of those, then why?" Switch-styled-chibi Bossun nodded. "Yeah, Chuu-san already said it wasn't a love pill."

Bossun-styled-chibi Bossun pulled down its goggles and went on concentration mode. After a short while, it removed the goggles and even though it was panting, it exclaimed, "I got it!" And they all disappeared with a pop.

Bossun pointed at Chuu-san and said, "it was the soda!" He remembered Himeko drinking the soda right after eating the pill. Chuu-san looked up at Bossun before averting his gaze to the other table where a dozen bottles of soda were placed. "Oh. I forgot that I placed the Go-go-wedding-ala-mode drink there."

"Go-go-wedding-ala-mode drink?" Bossun's jaw dropped. "That doesn't even make sense! And your naming format is even wrong! Shouldn't it be Drink-ala-go-go-wedding-mode?"

"Hmm. No one will notice that mistake." Chuu-san replied. Bossun was saying how he already noticed the mistake but Chuu-san continued, "it may not make sense to you, but I need that to finish our plans for the wedding." He sighed. "You kids don't know how much energy is needed to plan a wedding."

"More than a Go-go-wedding-ala-mode drink, you need a Go-go-don't-be-lazy drink, Chuu-san!" Bossun snapped again. Chuu-san just sighed again. "If Himeko drank it, then that means I need to brew another bottle for tomorrow." Another sigh. "So troublesome."

"You were the one who gave me that drink!" The younger teen cried, remembering the current problem. "Before that, I need to give Himeko an antidote!" The lazy teacher finally stood up and walked slowly towards the table where the bottles of soda were. Bossun waited eagerly as Chuu-san looked over the bottles carefully this time. "Ah!"

"Is that the antidote there?" Bossun asked excitedly. This was the first time Chuu-san had an antidote ready! Chuu-san, despite his weird creations, must be great after all! "It's Cola." Chuu-san reached for the bottle and took a sip. "All this mixing made me thirsty. Haa."

"Don't give your student false hope! How can you do that? And what's with the 'ah' and 'haa'! I was really happy thinking you have an antidote!" Bossun wasn't sure anymore how many times and how much he cried that day.

"You don't need an antidote for that. Its effect only lasts for about one hour."

"..."

Bossun wanted to hit his head on the wall after hearing this. He felt like he wasted a lifetime of worrying over this only to find out that the effect of the soda was only to last for an hour. That meant that Himeko won't have to cry any longer, right?

His thoughts were cut off when he felt his phone vibrate on his pocket. Opening it, he saw that Switch was calling him. Drained from dealing with Chuu-san and worrying about Himeko, Bossun lazily picked it up. "Yeah?"

" ' Bossun! Himeko's on the rooftop!' " Switch's artificial voice said from the other line.

"Haah?" Bossun blinked. "Is she planning to skip the next class by hiding there?"

" 'Bossun, people in wedding mode—'" Switch answered but Bossun cut him off.

"Ehhh? You already know about that Go-Go-Wedding-ala-Mode soda?"

" 'Of course. I've known Chuu-san had been drinking it.'" Switch's answer made Bossun want to go 'Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!' but he was stopped before he could even start. " 'Anyway, that's not important right now. What I was saying, people in wedding mode can be suicidal when they feel rejected, Bossun.'"

Bossun paled even more when he heard Himeko's voice from the background shouting things like "I wasted my whole youth liking a stupid red caterpillar head" and "the next time I see him I'm going to make sure his bones are all pulped!"

"SUICIDAL?! That's more like murderous, Switch!" Bossun wanted to cry at how ridiculous this was, but then he heard more of Himeko's crying.

And this time, it was just plain crying (albeit rather loudly). Himeko was seriously crying. Like that time when they had saved Captain from a group of thugs. Like that time when they saved her from Tsune and his group. Like that time when she hugged him and he didn't know what to do-

Before Bossun knew it, he had already headed out of the Science Laboratory and was quickly taking his steps towards the rooftop. Man, how could Himeko cry like that when he was the one who had been suffering physically and mentally? He was not really sure what it was, but he could feel something weird going inside him as he climbed up the stairs. "Arghh, I hope those concoctions Chuu-san's mixing aren't hazardous."

He opened the door to the rooftop and immediately, he saw Himeko there on the other side. He imagined that he'd found her trying to jump from there (shouting more things about him being an incompetent caterpillar and an idiot), but it seemed that he was wrong on that; Himeko was just sitting down, her back resting on the rails. She tried to dry her tears upon hearing the door open, and when she realized that it was Bossun who came, she sent a glare towards his direction before averting her gaze away from him. Bossun, for a moment, wasn't sure what to do next. He heard her sniffle and for some reason, he felt really guilty. Ah, but wasn't this all because of that stupid soda?

Right, this was all because of that soda. "Look-"

"There's no really need for you to say anything." Still looking away from him, Himeko interrupted before he could explain the soda. She stood up, brushing dirt off the back of her skirt. With a forced smile, she continued, "I've long known that you'd never really like a girl like me." And then, a forced laugh. "How could the two of us even marry each other-! Ahahaha!"

What the heck was this? Just a moment ago she was crying as if he had broken her heart, and now she was trying to shove it off like a joke? Ah, right. This was all just because of some soda. It's not like Himeko would ever really like him. Hahaha. What a joke really this was. Yeah, yeah, this was all just because of that soda.

And with that, Bossun tried to laugh too. "How could we, right? That Chuu-san really is something creating a soda like- Wha?" Panicking, he took a step forward. "Why are you crying again?"

Himeko was trying to brush away her tears but new ones kept coming. "I really-" She sniffed. "H-How could you just-" She laughed and shook her head. "I mean,-" She tried to smile but ended up sobbing. "B-but I really-"

"What do you really want to do? Laugh OR cry?" This was making Bossun crazy. Why was the effect of that stupid soda turning out like this? Why-

"Waaaahhhhhhhhhhh-" Himeko stopped from trying to control her tears and was back to just crying. Her wailing cut off all of Bossun's thoughts and for a minute, she was just crying. Both of them were rooted at their places, a good distance from each other. "H-how could you be so insensitive at times like this? I don't really have any idea what I really want to do in the future except for that fact that I want, I want- Waaahhhhhhhhh...! Bossun!"

"Eh? You want what?" Bossun took a step back. What? Did she want to beat him up again? He definitely saw her clenching her fists!

"STUPID!" Himeko cried. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID!" Bossun cringed at her words and he wanted to shout back now, but he was thankful that she wasn't carrying her Flagrance right now, although he knew her knuckles could just be as painful as that. "How can I ask you again to marry me when I know that you'll just reject?!"

There was silence again and Bossun's cheeks reddened. Whoa. That transparent concoction Chuu-san was mixing must really be hazardous.

"That-" was just because of the cola, he wanted to say.

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!" Himeko shut her eyes closed and covered her ears while turning away from him. This was too much for her. "How could you reject me twice in just an hour! You're really-"

"I'm not rejecting you!" Bossun snapped. Why was she just cutting off him again and again when he was trying to explain? Sheesh.

"Eh?" Hope sparkled in Himeko's eyes amidst her tears.

Bossun sighed as Himeko looked like she was finally ready to listen to him. He walked towards her side and sat a meter away from her. Subconsciously, he distanced another foot away from her; you never knew when Himeko might hit him again.

"Listen now." He averted his look back at Himeko and he felt kind of worried at the way her cheeks were red. He hoped that the weird soda wasn't giving her any allergies or something. "You asking me for m-ma-ma... for that is just an effect of Chuu-san's Go-Go-Wedding-ala-Mode soda that you drunk earlier."

It took a moment for Himeko to reply. "So... so you're saying that you think these feelings, you mean, me asking you to marry me is just because... of that soda?"

Bossun didn't exactly know what to reply so he just laughed. "What else could cause you to ask me for m-m-ma.. for that? And you don't have to worry, the effect only lasts for an hour." With that thought, he picked his phone from his pocket and looked at the time. "You'll just have to endure it for less than thirty minutes."

There was a long silence as Himeko wiped away her remaining tears before she sat down again.

"All because of a soda..." Himeko silently muttered.

"Yup, all because of a soda." Bossun nodded again and mentally sighed, if Himeko just listened the moment he entered, she wouldn't have ended up crying more.

**-to be continued—**

Author's Note: Originally, I was planning for only 5 chapters, but this will have one more. Teehee. I reread this and somehow found the chibi Bossuns scene funny... What do you guys think? Reviews please?

**-Sketto Romance—**

"Soooo..." Bossun gulped worriedly and looked around as more students who were taking their lunch break occupied the rooftop. "Is the effect gone now?"

Himeko, who had been hugging her knees, shook her head quietly. Without raising her head or looking at him, she muttered, "I still want to marry you right now."

Bossun was now definitely sure that the transparent liquid Chuu-san was mixing was really hazardous. Why else would his face turn redder and his hear beat faster after hearing that from Himeko?

He momentarily got distracted when his phone got a message from Switch. Where was Switch anyway? Opening the message, Bossun's face got paler and paler.

╮(─▽─)╭ _Bossun, you know how lazy Chuu-san is compared to Himeko, right? （*´▽｀*） The effect of Go-Go-Wedding-ala-Mode soda on Himeko might take one week instead of one hour before receding. ヾ(*´ー`)ノ Don't worry, I already have the wedding invitation and guest list ready.（*＾3＾）/～ _

Bossun wanted to jump from the rooftop now.


End file.
